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Acts 26:1-8 Our Hope in God
Opening: One of the greatest chapter in
the NT is recorded in 1 Corinthians 13. Many refer it at to as Paul’s
discourse on love.
Now if one takes the time to look a little
further into the text, Paul’s discussion there goes deeper than just
love. Actually he is writing to those in the Corinthian church who seem
to think that people who were blessed with certain miraculous gifts of
the Holy Spirit were more important than others in the church. Paul goes
on to teach them that we are all important, and that love for one
another is the most perfect way. As a matter of fact he goes on to tell
them that some of those gifts will disappear while others will always
remain true and will never fail.
Read 1 Cor. 13:8-10 & 13 “Love
never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where
there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it
will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.” And then Vs. 13 “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
So Paul tells the Corinthians that those
miraculous gifts of that time were only temporary, but the 3 gifts that
would remain, is faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of course would
be love… why? Because it is the one virtue that would endure forever,
even beyond this life.
Where would we be without our Christian faith, hope, and Love? I
cannot imagine. Those things that we have faith in, and things that we
hope for, and loving others, gives our Christian life meaning and
purpose.
These virtues define who we are as
Christians. In today text we will read where the Apostle Paul talks
about one of these virtues – his hope, as a matter of fact the hope that
all believers have.
Background to our text:
Before Paul is shipped off to Rome where he would stand trial before
Caesar, the new governor of Caesarea, Festus, the man who replaced the
evil Felix asks King Agrippa, who was visiting Festus to sit and listen
to Paul. Before sending Paul to Caesar, Festus wanted King Agrippa to
help him come up with something he can put in a letter regarding why
Paul was being sent to him in the first place.
So in chapter 26 we have a copy of what Paul had to say as he addressed this king and his wife. Read Acts Chapter 26 (click on link) http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%2026&version=NIV1984
There is a lot in this chapter we could
talk about this morning, but today I would like to focus on something
Paul says as he begins his defense; the very reason why he felt he was
on trial. Paul said, “it is
because of my hope in what God has promised our ancestors that I am on
trial today… (He said) King Agrippa, it is because of this hope that
these Jews are accusing me.”
And what hope is he referring to? In the very next verse (26:8) he lets us know; “That God will raise the dead.” And then in verses 22-23 he says, “God
has helped me to this very day; so I stand here and testify to small
and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses
said would happen— that the Messiah would suffer and, as the
first to rise from the dead, would bring the message of light to his
own people and to the Gentiles.”
The very hope of every Christian is, that one day… just as Jesus rose from the grave, we shall also rise to be with Him.
Some had doubts during that time, even in the church, so Paul addressed this issue to encourage us and give us hope.
Read: 1 Corinthians 15:12-24 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%2015:12-24%20&version=NLT
Jesus came to give us life eternal,
abundant life. And part of that comes from knowing and believing and
having hope, in what is to come.
Because Christ died and was then resurrected, together we share in that hope of resurrection as well !
The Apostle Peter also wrote of this hope Read: 1 Peter 1:3-9
“3
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great
mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7
These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which
perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may
result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8
Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not
see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and
glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”
Peter said that we have been given a new
birth into a living hope. It is a living hope because Jesus was
resurrected and is NOW (present tense) now alive in heaven. And that
hope should be alive in you!
Today we see too many people in despair
because they count on, or build their lives on the wrong things. They
put their faith in and hope in things that won’t last: wood hay and
stubble; the things of this world.
Jesus once said, “What good will it be if you gain the whole world yet loose your soul.”
A philosopher in the early 1900’s, Bertrand Russell was an outspoken atheist. He even wrote a book called Why I Am Not A Christian.
When Russell was 81 years old, he was
interviewed on a BBC radio talk show. The interviewer asked him what he
had to hang onto when death was obviously so close. Russell responded,
“I have nothing to hang onto but grim, unyielding despair.”
What an honest yet hopeless response. You
see, when you live only for this life, and only for what it has to
offer, and when you think that this is all there is, you can’t help
but eventually fall into despair.
But for those of us who are in Christ
Jesus, there is hope. A living hope, because we anticipate a time when
death and decay will no longer exist.
Paul wrote in Romans 8:18-19 “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.”
In verse 19, that phrase “eager expectation” is a picturesque word that means “to stretch the neck in anticipation.”
Have you ever waited for someone to come home on a plane? As the people
come off the ramp you stretch and strain to see them as soon as
possible. Paul says creation is in that type of existence, longing to
see what God is going to do.
And the next thing that Paul goes on to say in that text is. (vv. 22-24) “We
know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of
childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves,
who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait
eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in
this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all.”
Have you been there? When you ache or groan
in this world of materialism, and pain, and frustration knowing what
God has waiting for us in Glory? If you are in Christ, you have this
promise that there is something better. So as we groan, we remember our
hope. Some day things will be better. That is our hope! And that hope
can and should affect our present disposition.
You see, this Biblical view points us to a
hope that is greater than the world we live in. And, if we are in
Christ, we have been infused with an eternal sense of hopefulness. So
for the Christian, there is no such thing as a hopeless life. We may not
like a particular situation we are in, or what’s going on in our life
right now, but you should never be hopeless or without hope.
Paul expands on this idea a little more in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18. He writes,
“Therefore
we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet
inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary
troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them
all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
So why does Paul and others talk about our hope in Christ?
1. Because we need to be encourages and reminded that this world is not our home..
1. Because we need to be encourages and reminded that this world is not our home..
2. Because I believe he knows that this hope will keep us from settling for the things of this world.
Scott Dudley put it this way: “Never in history have so many had so much for so long and been so depressed about it.” Fulfillment doesn’t come from that stuff. Bu when we adopt an eternal mindset, stuff looses its significance.
When we recognize that the things of this
world aren’t going to last forever, we realize that there is no complete
sense of fulfillment in collecting stuff. When we place our hope in God
and what He has to offer, we don’t try to satisfy our groanings with
the things of this world. In hope, we anticipate that God will satisfy
us in ways that cannot be understood in this lifetime.
3. I believe Paul knew that our hope can turn our eyes away from our present pain, or hardships to God’s glory.
The good news is that, in Christ, we live
knowing that the pain of this world will give way to the painless
reality of heaven. The promise from the Bible is that in that time
Christ will take away our pain and will dry all our tears. That hope
can and should infuses us now with the ability to turn our eyes away
from our pain to God’s glory.
The hope that we have in Christ is a great power.
It will sustain us. It will comfort us and give us peace. It give the
Christian a sense of purpose and a reason to live for and serve God. As
Paul found out some may even laugh at us and even try to persecute us
for our belief. But be assured of this, those who know that they are in
Christ Jesus will always have hope.
So hang in there everyone, and never forget the hope you have in Jesus!!!